Bicycle Thieves (Ladri Di Biciclette) (Vittorio de Sica, 1948)

I’m beginning to see an interested trend now. I’ve seen a few Italian neorealist films and with The Children are Watching Us most fresh in my mind, these “realistic” type of films seem to be, well, quite negative. I mean, maybe it’s just Vittorio de Sica but The Children are Watching Us ended with the death of one of the endearing characters and Bicycle Thieves almost ends with jail for the father who tries to steal a bike. More significantly, it occurs in front of his son, who is then bawling while the men who catch him in the act threaten to put him in jail. Maybe it’s just the fact that these films are so far from the happy, fairytale Hollywood endings we’re used to that it seems like it’s too much in the pessimist direction when it may be more realistic. 

Also, I’ve noticed children seem to play a big role in his films. Perhaps compared to Hollywood film, children are just given more attention, which in effect seems to magnify their importance in comparison. It’s interesting also to note the father-son relationship, while we hardly get a glimpse of the mother interacting with her son Bruno. Is this more realistic? Maybe it was more realistic for that time, in Italy. Anyway, it was a good film, cleverly made. 

I particularly like how given the title, you expect there to be some bicycle theft involved (which is actually the whole plot) but the way de Sica puts the audience in suspense is incredible. For instance, when the father is first waiting outside the apartment where his wife has gone to “see a woman”, he is curious to know who she is seeing (turns out to be a psychic of some sorts). So when he momentarily leaves his bicycle, the audience is latterly left squirming as we’re expecting the bicycle to get stole. On top of this, de Sica stretches out the scene as long as possible − we see the couple walking back down the stairs, and the whole time the camera is almost avoiding showing the place where the bicycle was. It is as if he is building up suspense so we see the shocked reaction of the husband when he sees his bicycle is no longer there. However, we’re instead shocked with a pleasant surprise when his bicycle is still standing there, untouched and as an audience we almost feel as if we’ve been tricked. Worth watching.